The stillness didn't last.
A tremor ran through his limbs.
One leg slipped.
Then another.
The body collapsed.
The impact didn't hurt.
Not the way it should have.
The body twitched against the ground, limbs jerking out of sync.
He tried to move.
One leg responded.
The others didn't.
They dragged.
Scraped.
Folded the wrong way.
Wrong.
Everything was still wrong.
Why…
He didn't finish that thought.
A pulse ran through him.
Weak.
Fading.
And beneath it—
something else.
A hollow pull.
Sharp and Deep
It twisted inside him, demanding something.
Not movement.
Not control.
Consume.
No…
His body moved anyway.
The body stilled—
not by choice.
Something nearby shifted.
Faint.
Alive.
The pull tightened.
It got Stronger.
Closer to him.
What is that…
His limbs moved again.
Not controlled.
Barely moving, but moving regardless.
He approached something.
Still.
Too still.
A body lay ahead of him.
Low to the ground.
Compact.
Its front had split open, exposing rows of jagged teeth inside a vertical mouth.
It wasn't moving.
But warmth still clung to it.
Faint.
Fading.
Dead…?
The thought barely formed.
The pull inside him sharpened.
Closer.
His limbs twitched, then dragged him forward.
He stopped just short of it.
The smell hit him first.
Rot.
Blood.
Something dry beneath it, something wet inside.
His body reacted before he could think.
One of his legs drove down into the opened flesh.
The moment he touched it—
Warmth.
Not around him.
Inside him.
The hollow pull twisted hard, then loosened.
Just a little.
What…
He pressed deeper.
The flesh gave way under him, sinking, softening, breaking apart where he touched it.
He wasn't biting.
Wasn't tearing.
But it was disappearing.
Drawn into him.
The warmth spread through his body in thin, uneven pulses.
His shaking eased.
Not gone.
But way more less than it was before.
The warmth spread.
Slow.
Uneven.
It didn't feel like eating.
There was no tearing.
No chewing.
Just—
disappearing.
The flesh beneath him sank inward.
Collapsed.
As if something inside it was being pulled out.
Into him.
What… is this…
His body pressed further in.
Not by choice.
The pull inside him tightened again—stronger now.
Demanding more.
The surface of the corpse shriveled where he touched it, losing shape, losing weight.
He was emptying it somehow.
And with it—
something filled him.
Not completely.
Not enough.
But the shaking in his limbs slowed.
His movements steadied.
Slightly.
'I…'
The thought slipped.
Didn't finish.
He didn't understand it.
Only that—
the more he emptied it,
the less empty he felt.
After fully "consuming" it, he noticed that he felt no pain anywhere anymore.
'Did eating that thing heal me?'
He tried moving his body and noticed that—
it responded.
A leg lifted.
It didn't buckle.
He held it there.
Then set it down.
Another moved.
Slower.
But it followed.
Not separate.
Not fighting each other.
Together.
He pushed again.
The body rose.
Unsteady—
but it rose.
He stood.
For a moment, nothing happened.
No collapse.
No sudden failure.
Just—
stillness.
…
His limbs shifted.
Small adjustments.
Balancing.
Holding.
He took a step.
It landed.
Didn't slip.
Didn't fail.
Another.
More stable.
Not smooth.
But better.
The body moved when he moved.
The hollow feeling from before had faded.
Not gone.
Not gone.
For some reason, it felt… good.
And wrong at the same time.
…More.
The thought came suddenly.
Sharp.
Clear.
But there was nothing left.
The feeling twisted.
Unpleasant.